


Safe

by LegolasLovely



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Cold, Cold Weather, During The Hobbit, Fanfiction, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Kíli Is a Little Shit, Protective Thorin, Protectiveness, Sharing Body Heat, Sharing Clothes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-18 12:43:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20639363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LegolasLovely/pseuds/LegolasLovely
Summary: Based on the imagine from thereandbackagainimagines on tumblr: imagine falling asleep at the campfire one evening and Thorin carefully picking you up so he doesn’t wake you and carrying you to your bedroll.





	Safe

The company chattered lowly around you as you finished your stew. It was a particularly cold night and you started to shiver again as heat of your meal subsided. You stuck your hands under your arms and huddled closer to the fire, staring into the bright flames and feeling yourself grow sleepy. Between your hours on watch and the excruciating cold, you hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in over a week and it was starting to get to you. The company around the fire gave you a wide birth, knowing well how nasty you could get when you were cranky.

“Here, (Y/N), take this,” Fili said, sitting next to you. “It’ll warm you up a little bit.”

You took the mug from him, realizing he had boiled water for you to drink. You smiled at him in thanks and wrapped your frozen fingers around the burning mug. You sipped on it and said, “It doesn’t bother you guys, does it?”

“The cold? Not as much as humans, I suppose,” Fili said.

“We’re just really hot,” Kili said, making you laugh for the first time in days.

You hummed. “Okay,” you said, sarcasm ringing in your voice.

The brothers did their best to raise your spirits. Though they often played their tricks on you, you couldn’t stay mad at them for long and you almost always enjoyed your time with them. You listened to Fili’s stories about what he remembered of the mountain and held your steaming mug close to your face. Through its fog, you could see Thorin looking at you from across the fire. You lowered your eyes with a blink, not taking too much notice.

Long after you had finished your drink and had felt the cold creeping into your limbs, the company drifted off to their bedrolls for the night. Thankfully, you didn’t have watch.

“Leave the fire burning tonight,” Thorin said to Dwalin when he moved to snuff it out.

You were so tempted to curl up right next to the fire and sleep there. You raised your eyebrows. It wasn’t a terrible idea.

“(Y/N), come on, you should try to get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow,” Fili called to you.

“Yeah, I’m gonna… I’m gonna sleep over here,” you said, scooching closer to the flames and leaning down on your elbow.

“That is a terrible idea,” he said. He rolled his eyes at your glare. “You can’t bring your bedroll over there.”

“I don’t need a bedroll. Trust me, I’ll sleep like a baby without it, as long as I’m not shivering all night. I just want to be warm.” You laid down in the dirt and brought your knees to your chest, facing the dimming flames. You tucked your chin in your cloak and hummed. This was good.

Fili groaned your name in frustration.

You lifted your head. “Whatever you have in your blood that helps you deal with this agonizing, freezing cold, I don’t have it! Just let me be,” you finished, stuffing your mouth in the crook of your elbow.

“You won’t be so cold when you wake up on fire because you rolled too far. Who will help you then?” Thorin spoke now, standing above you.

You shrank a bit. Arguing with Fili was one thing, but arguing with Thorin took a whole new type of courage. “Whoever is on watch,” you said shortly.

“That would be me,” Thorin said with raised brows and his arms crossed over his chest.

“Well, will you save me, then?” you spat.

He looked at you for a moment, silent, angry tension growing. Without a word, he turned and sat on a log across the camp.

“I’d rather burn than freeze to death anyway,” you mumbled, pulling your cloak up to your chin and closing your eyes. Frustration and, though you didn’t want to admit it, embarrassment flooded through you. Why did Thorin care what happened to you anyway? One less mouth to feed if you were to die. You huffed and concentrated on the warmth radiating from the fire. It didn’t take you long to fall into a deep, much needed sleep.

*

The smell of breakfast and the noise of scurrying dwarves woke you. You opened your eyes to see the camp almost completely packed up. You also noticed that you weren’t as close to the now smothered fire as you were when you fell asleep. You sat up, bewildered, and saw Fili and Kili standing above you.

“We let you sleep,” Kili said. “You get really cranky when you don’t get enough sleep.”

“Sorry,” you said with a small smile. Your cloak felt heavy on you as you stood, and you realized an extra one hung from your shoulders. It was thicker and warmer than yours and beautiful, soft furs hung from the top of it. A cloak like this could only belong to royals, you knew. You slid it off your shoulders and held it out to Fili. “Thank you for letting me borrow this.”

“That’s not mine,” he said.

You looked to Kili who nodded in the direction of his uncle who was attaching his bedroll to his pack. Your eyes widened and your head hung low as you walked over to Thorin. You stopped before him and held out his heavy cloak. “Thank you for- for giving me- for this.”

He took it and fastened it around his shoulders. “I decided I didn’t want to see you burn or freeze,” he said.

“You’re the one who moved me.”

He nodded, throwing his pack over his back. “Believe it or not, you were overheating sleeping that close to the fire. I’ve never seen cheeks so red.”

You breathed out a laugh, remembering how the neighborhood boys used to tease you for that exact trait. “Well, thank you,” you said, turning from him to gather your own things.

He called you back. His fierce blue eyes cut into yours. “If anything were to happen, you know I would do my best to keep you safe.”

“I know that,” you nodded. “We’re a company. We protect each other.”

He hummed. “Gather your things, we should be off.”

All day, you remained toward the back of the group. You felt well rested for the first time in weeks, but your mind was overwhelmed in thought. Though dwarves are less affected by the cold, Thorin must have been freezing without his cloak during the night. He shouldn’t have given it to you, you decided. He was possibly the most important one on this quest, he was the leader of the company, the King of Erebor. Nothing should happen to him, especially not because of you.

Your defiance and frustration echoed through you with every step you took toward the mountain, but you also worked to push away ever growing thoughts of his kindness and consideration. You knew he was deeply loved by his people, you had simply never thought about why.

The day flew by with your mind traveling elsewhere. You gathered firewood and assisted with making supper. Again, you placed yourself close to the fire as you ate. Thorin was the last to fill his mug with stew and as he reached into the pot over the flames, you called to him. “I wanted to apologize for my attitude last night.”

He surprised you by sitting next to you, on the other side of his nephews. “That’s alright, (Y/N). Your attitude is almost always much brighter than any of ours here, despite your hardships. I know none of this is easy-”

“That doesn’t give me a right to treat you that way.”

He looked at you and you expected him to chide you for interrupting him. “You’re allowed to slip every once in a while,” he said. 

You grinned and ate your stew. The rest of the evening passed with you listening to Kili and Fili’s stories by the fire. Every so often, you heard Thorin chuckle or correct his nephews, or even tell a story of his own. It was as if he had shed his cold, responsible demeanor and become the dwarf Kili and Fili had told you so much about. You couldn’t believe this was the same Thorin.

The four of you stayed awake long after the rest of the company had taken to their bedrolls and finally, Thorin advised you all to rest. You watched him smother the fire with dirt and felt dread and even fear rise in your chest. He noticed. “We can’t let it burn tonight. We are too close to the mountain, wargs and orcs will be looking for the smoke.

You nodded and wished him a good night with a small smile. You laid down on your bedroll and curled yourself up to sleep, closing your eyes. You heard someone set up close to you and assumed it was Fili or Kili, not bothering to open your eyes. A heavy arm landed across your waist and you started when you smelled Thorin’s familiar scent washing over you. You turned to him with wide eyes.

“No one will be freezing to death tonight,” he said, with the hint of a smile beneath this thick beard.

You lie on your back, looking up at him, laughing when your chin shook in an involuntary shiver. “Are you so sure about that?”

“I am,” he said, adjusting his cloak so it covered both of you and pulled you closer to his warm body.

You rolled into his chest and felt him tense as you snuggled your head under his chin and sent your shaking fingers around his waist. Your other hand buried itself in the fur of his vest on his chest and you sighed, content and safe. You felt him relax, pulling you even closer to him and tucking his cloak warmly around you. You glued yourself to him, fitting perfectly in his arms and soon your shivering stopped.

As you drifted off into sleep, you felt his fingers tangle in the ends of your undone hair and his lips leaving light kisses on the top of your head. “I told you I’d keep you safe,” he said.


End file.
